Selective Purchasing Legislation in

[freeburma@xxxxxxx]

Subject: Selective Purchasing Legislation in Takoma Park, Maryland

Attn: Burma and Burmese Activists
Re: Selective Purchasing Legislation in Takoma Park, Maryland


World-Minded Takoma Park May Impose Sanctions on Burma
  By Manuel Perez-Rivas
  Washington Post Staff Writer
  Wednesday, July 17 1996; Page B01
  The Washington Post 

     Never accuse Takoma Park of parochialism. Having already declared itself a 
nuclear-free zone, granted noncitizens the right to vote and seceded from 
Prince George's County, the suburb of 17,500 residents is considering imposing 
economic sanctions on Burma. A resolution presented for consideration to the 
Takoma Park Town Council calls for the town government to boycott businesses 
with ties to the Asian country, whose citizens are under the grip of an 
oppressive military regime. The resolution shared the agenda with plans for new 
speed bumps and development of a shopping strip.

    Sanctions against Burma have been proposed in the U.S. Senate, and 
Massachusetts last month became the first state to adopt a similar measure. 
Cities from Chicago to San Francisco to Seattle also have their own sanctions 
on the books. And so does Berkeley, Calif.

 "We sometimes kind of consider ourselves the Berkeley of the East," said 
Bruce R. Williams, a member of Takoma Park's nonpartisan council.

 The proposal received a favorable response from other council members Monday 
night, said Williams, who was asked by residents to present the idea. The council 
likely will hold a public hearing before taking action on the resolution.

 "My assumption is that we're going to go ahead and do it in September," 
Williams said. Takoma Park has experience with such boycotts. It denies business 
to firms connected to the nuclear industry. Previously, it imposed sanctions on 
South Africa's apartheid government.

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